21Vagabonds
by Hardwing
Summary: As the clan tries to close the wounds of the recent battles, Darlene tries to heal the wounds in Delilah's soul. Yet in the atmosphere of fear, struggle and well planned dates, a well known figure makes its way through the night who will change the status quo dramatically!


_**I just want to thank the creators of DARK AGES for creating such a great background, and Storyseeker for correcting my fics and helping me with great ideas and for the characters of his ficverse.**_

"Fine… I'm fine," she replied, giving a quick look at Ruth. She was finding it hard to look upon him with all his wounds and bandages so, for when she saw the obvious pain he was in it brought her pain also. "Look, you and your brothers may have been wrong in leaving the castle, but I was the one who got you to leave and I feel guilty about causing you so much trouble. So I want to make it up to you, and at the same time bring this infatuation with me to an end before…" she swallowed. "Before someone else gets killed because of me."

Lana paused for a moment, in which Smokey looked at her, though he seemed to have problems in holding his eyes open.

"I want to give you all a date," she explained, causing Ruth to look at her surprised.

_*** in the dark***_

_At the wind ceremony for the killed members of the labyrinth clan and the warriors of their own..._

"I know a few of you probably think he earned his fate, that he was at fault," Darlene_ (referring to the clones)_ threw a short look around, taking a short break at the hatchlings. "But please remember that it was Thailog who forced him to do it. He had no freewill in this action, no more as you would have done if you had been under a spell."

Having said this, and seeing from the faces around her that her words had no great effect, Darlene stepped back to her family.

"Sister," Darlene begged. "Please, you must eat something."

Delilah didn't respond, and instead she looked ahead, sitting on the bed with her knees close to her chest, and her tail wrapped around her, as she had done since Darlene had placed her there.

_Demona finds Delilah with her wrists cut open._

The immortal looked at the scene for a moment, registering Delilah's bracelets lying on the toilet to not cover the veins in the wrist where she had cut. She continued staring at her a while longer, before cursing and heading for the cupboard where she pulled out the First Aid Kit.

_Duncan berates his fellow hatchlings for watching Lion King._

"They prepare to fight for their lives... _our lives_, and all you want to do is this?" he said, pointing to the TV. "We won't do any fighting, but I'll rather train to show I am thinking about it. Who is with me?"

Demona leaned over the cooking pot where she slowly cooked something unidentifiable, when Delilah came stumbling into the room.

"Why?" the hybrid asked, her silver bracelets hiding stitches where the older Gargess had sealed her veins.

"Letting you die there would, for some reason, make my daughter angry at me," Demona replied, not even looking at the hybrid whose approach she had noticed even from far away. "More stress isn't good for the egg she carries."

Delilah stumbled into the kitchen, letting herself fall into the chair at the table, Shade rushing to her side.

"I want to die," she said.

"**WHAT CAN I DO?**" Delilah shouted at the blue Gargess, facing her angrily. "My brothers, my home gone... "

She stopped, telling herself that she had forgotten the manners Maggie had once tried to teach her and her brothers so hard, and forgetting just for a moment that she had killed her.

"Then take **revenge** on who did this to you, all of them!" Demona snapped back...

*** Shock after***

_A __**vagabond**__ is an itinerant person. A vagabond is characterized by almost continuous travelling, thus lacking a fixed home, temporary abode or permanent residence. _

**19.09.98; 21:26;Somewhere Over New York:**

A lone figure glided over some houses in a part of the city that had seen better days. It did so without any sign of the beauty the members of its race usually displayed, seemingly only held in the sky by some strong blasts.

Eventually the winds were no longer enough, and despite the best efforts of the creature, it half-fell and half-glided down to the edge of one of the houses, stumbling and falling over it, in the last moment barely holding itself with one claw.

As the last bit of strength left in it faded, the claw failed to hold the body and it fell three levels down into a pile of garbage cans.

Down there, Roland finally passed out.

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**19.09.98; 21:47; Castle Wyvern, Courtyard:**

"They train much of the evening now," Darlene noted.

"That's good, if it makes her happy," Angela replied. "Both of them I mean."

"Mother doesn't make our sister happy," her sister replied. "She influences her to seek vengeance the same way she does... and you know where this has led her"

For a moment, everyone was silent.

"At least now she is eating," Desdemona threw in, taking a quick glance in the sky where soon a couple of Gargoyles were gliding in union. "You said she had no will to live before."

"Now I fear which life she could lead." Darlene bit her lip. "I want Delilah to come here again, to show her that she has more to live for. But for that I need help."

"I could speak with our sisters, but I don't think anyone besides us would be willing to associate with her," the Gargess with the double wings noticed. "Besides, you have to talk with the leader first to make sure he allows it, but I don't think this will be a problem."

Darlene nodded.

"We need to get her assigned for fight training and reading, too," she said. "And maybe Elisa could speak with her?"

"I don't think this is a good idea," Desdemona replied. "At the moment, she is too occupied with work and I don't think she is over what happened to her brother."

Silence.

"If we manage to get her back in training here it will be a start," Darlene said after a moment. "Mother wants to go to her company when we are back, so I can speak with our sister then and..."

"Do you know how you sound?" Angela asked irritated. "I know how it is when mother tries to manipulate you, but we are clan. We shouldn't do such behind the other's backs."

"Lassie!" a voice called from behind. "Your free time is over, move your tail to the training room before she comes to get you."

Angela turned around, seeing one of her rookery mothers standing at one of the doorways of the castle.

"Please, just think about that," she asked before turning around and walking inside.

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**19.09.98; 22:12; Castle Wyvern, Main Kitchen:**

"I still don't think this is a good idea, brothers," Broadway commented, tasting some soup. "Lana agreed to these dates out of desperation, you know."

"She suggested it," the brother with the fin on his head replied.

"Yeah," the small red-skinned brother added. "One night and it is over."

"We only need your help in serving the appropriate meal," the green-skinned, black-haired gargoyle noted. "Humans say the way to a person's heart is through their stomach, but we don't want her to be finished up before the end."

Closing the pot, Broadway sighed. "You owe me for this, bros," he noticed.

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**19.09.98; 23:57; Castle Wyvern, Training Room:**

"Faster," the elder with the lame leg bellowed to Angela and Lana, who were attacking each other with long wooden sticks in a changing musters of attack and defence, which created a constant rhythm of clicks. "Faster I say, lassies, or I swear I'll keep both of you at this till morning."

Though both the young Gargoyles hadn't believed their muscles would obey, they actually managed to get faster, with a still hard breathing Ruth and a patient Darlene watching by their sides.

Finally, Lana had had enough. Kneeling down and raising her staff to protect herself, she tried to use her left leg to kick her aunt's away, making her jeans break in the process. Angela reacted in time though, jumping and aiming with her own staff on the far right end of Lana's, having enough force to make her opponent loose the staff and make it sail a quarter of the way across the room, missing two hatchlings who were practicing claw to claw combat.

"Well, daughter, if you had this cunning all the time, I would say you could begin the road of being a warrior," the teacher noticed grudgingly, turning to Lana. "You had the right idea, but a slug could outmanoeuvre you, and losing your battle means death! How often have I told you this? Seemingly, we will have to work at it in the future. Now put away the weapons and think about my words."

Quickly, the three Gargesses walked away, Lana looking at her damaged jeans just as Darlene knew she would, and Angela throwing a quick glance at her half-sister.

"The lass makes progress now and then, though slow, and she would make it more quickly had she the will to become a warrior... or I more time," the teacher said, turning to Darlene when the three Gargesses were out of ear reach. "As for my daughter, I had hoped that this unnatural clinging to Goliath being her father would have brought her at least more of his talent... She has potential which would give her this, but only if she were more tougher."

"Well, maybe in time," Darlene responded, feeling a bit baffled by this, and deciding to ignore the remark concerning biological relationships.

"Maybe." the older one said. "You are here because of the clone? Want me to train her again?"

Darlene nodded.

"I helped train our young warriors from when they were but hatchlings," the teacher said, turning around. "I won't help turn the one who killed them into a more deadly killing machine."

With this she wanted to go, but Darlene, despite her heavy stomach, proved to be much quicker than the limping elder.

"Mother is already training her," she explained. "But I think she might need someone who can teach her... another outlook in life."

The brown-skinned, brown-haired Gargess laughed.

"Why should I?" she asked. "A clanless traitor and a soulless creation? These two deserve each other."

Limping away, she left Darlene standing behind without turning around.

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**20.09.98; 00:11; Castle Wyvern:**

"Ouch!" Jane exclaimed, pushing back from the tailor. "Don't sew it on **me**!"

"You should be more careful then while training, so that this won't happen again," the tailor who was Lana's friend said, raising a needle. "Do you want it finished now, or do you want to run around in one of the replacements?"

This made the young one shriek even more.

"You know how long I need to get it, right?" she asked, fixating her blue top, but stepping closer to her older sister so that she could continue.

"I know because **I** have made it for you, remember?" the yellow Gargess replied, sewing further. "Finished! I hope this works, but if you continue this way then I'll have to make a new one before the tests."

Jane looked at herself in the mirror, playing a bit with her long blonde hair, in a way that amused her older sister for a moment.

"Thank you," the hatchling said. "I wanted to have a special new one for the tests anyway."

"This is your only fear?" her sister asked, seeing Lana enter. "If so then I would think you'd be wanting to go back to training with your pals."

"As if I had a choice... " Jane muttered under her breath, passing the half Gargoyle. "Stupid brother, stupid maturity..."

"She comes from training?" Lana asked.

"The young ones take extra training hours amongst themselves," the tailor said, putting needle and thread back in the cupboard. "The teacher is thrilled."

"Yeah. Jarred, too... and Delilah with Grandma," Lana noticed. "Maybe we should send them to a psychiatrist?"

"I assume you are nervous about the dates and want to talk?" the web-winged Gargess asked.

"Yes, that and this," Lana replied, showing her jeans having ripped in the length of her left leg. "The teacher believed I needed a lesson about quickness once again."

"Sure," the tailor replied, opening the cupboard once again. "Hold still a moment and we'll get you fixed up for our finned brother."

"I want it fixed, not to look fine for him!" Lana replied.

There was a moment of silence while the tailor picked up the material she needed.

"You don't intend to get serious with any of them, do you?" she asked after a while.

"No way!" Lana replied, looking surprised.

"Thought so," the other Gargess noticed. "And after the story between you and them, I don't blame you."

"But?"

"But you should at least try to get them know better by this," the tailor replied. "You deserve to put an end to this and they deserve it, too... except our finned brother maybe."

"Still angry because of Ruth?" Lana asked.

"Let's just say," the tailor added, cutting a thread. "If he comes in the next time to get his clothing fixed, he will find that I will be making some more stings than usual."

Lana giggled.

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**20.09.98; 00:33; Destine Mansion, Training Room:**

"Why do you keep a human company then?" Delilah asked, blocking an attack of Demona's sword with a mace. "If their money is evil?"

"Because, _dear_ hybrid," the immortal hissed, setting after her with some more sword attacks. "Owning a company means having power."

Further attacks set Delilah on the defensive, forcing her to move back.

"Having power on their own is the only way to live in the world humans create," Demona explained, aiming dangerously close to the hybrid's stomach. "Goliath and my former clan are used to life on the humans good will, back then like now, but what if it ends and Xanatos decides they are not worth living any longer at **his** castle?"

Delilah used the short break Demona needed to take a quick breath, to counter her attack, nearing hitting her mother's left leg and making her step back.

"Xanatos seems to be friend," the hybrid noticed, now clinking Demona's sword with her mace, making it a duel of sheer force. "Why not trust?"

"Xanatos programmed Thailog to think like he does," the immortal replied, facing her opponent between the weapons. "What does **this** tell you?"

Delilah stumbled a bit by these words, allowing Demona to use her tail to grab the younger Gargoyle's left leg, bringing her to fall hard on the mat, letting herself to lower the blade to the hybrid's throat.

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**20.09.98; 00:56; Castle Wyvern:**

Finn, as Lana came to secretly call the young warrior, with the finned head, came in pushing a trolley with something hidden by a metal cover, the half-Gargess already sitting at the table.

"The meat needed longer than expected," he explained.

"That's okay," Lana replied, and meant it if only for the smell that her very sensitive Gargoyle nostrils had detected, telling her that there was some very delicious wild game underneath it.

Wordlessly, the young warrior placed the plate on the simple table, without any decorations, and handed Lana a plate with a fork and knife.

"I hunted this the last time I was allowed to go hunting in the forests north of here," Finn said, just to add as a matter of fact. "It will have lost some of its taste."

With this, he lifted the cover... revealing the roasted head of a wild soar staring straight at Lana, making her gasp.

"It was the strongest boar in the pack I could find." the hunter revealed proudly, rising his chest, mistaking the half-Gargess wide opened eyes as a sign of being impressed. "But it is nothing compared to the boars we had back in Scotland when... "

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**20.09.98; 01:06; Castle Wyvern, Courtyard:**

Deborah and her mate watched the courtyard where some of the hatchlings walked over. There were none of their usual games to be seen, their sheer endless amount of youthful energy having ceased for this night, as they listlessly sat around.

"They pulled through," Hudson noticed, his voice full of pride.

"Yes. The lad managed to inspire them," his mate agreed. "I wish some of their elder siblings would take this for inspiration."

"Still planning to convince the second to do the full night exercise?" Hudson asked, leaning at the parapet.

"It's about time they did," his mate replied fiercely. "This whole situation already cost us too much training."

"Hello," a voice interrupted them, and turning around they noticed Darlene standing there, her swollen belly being very visible.

"I need to talk with you two about Delilah," she began.

"Does the lass do you any trouble?" Hudson asked, worried.

"No," Darlene replied. "She got herself together as much as possible, considering her losses."

Hudson nodded, knowing the pain such losses brought, while his mate watched the other female considerably less open.

~ By the dragon, she knows what I want, ~ Darlene thought.

"She needs someone to train her again," she went straight for the attack, touching her belly. "Since I can't, I hoped you would."

"**Train her?**" Deborah snarled, irritated. "If it were up to me she wouldn't be allowed to come even near here ever again!"

"It wasn't her fault," Darlene replied. "And I won't allow her to be outcasted because of something, which was Thailog's doing."

"Hmmm," the older Gargess replied in contempt. "Then train her yourself, once you have laid your egg."

"This may be too late," the pregnant Gargess explained, unsure how her delivery would actually play up. "Mother is training her, and what could I really set against this?"

Silence struck the elder Gargoyles.

"Why would the lass do this?" Hudson asked, remembering his daughter's contempt for this clone in particular.

"I don't know," Darlene answered truthfully. "But she actually teaches her what she thinks a Gargoyle should be, and I don't think this is the best given..."

She stopped, not wanting to share her thoughts about her mother to someone outside her group of sisters.

"I need to see Sevarius now," she added. "Please think about it."

As she went off, the mates looked at each other.

"We should do it," Hudson was the first to begin.

"Because of what the lass said?" his mate asked. "I've seen hatchlings do better tricks to make me do their little wishes."

"True," the one-eyed Gargoyle said. "But she isn't wrong of the lass not being at fault... Even the leader once acted under enchantment, as did I."

Deborah thought about it a moment longer.

"I shall do it," she replied finally. "At least **I** am a better teacher than **her**."

"Aye," her mate said.

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**20.09.98; 01:26; Castle Wyvern, Medical Station:**

"Darlene," Sevarius noticed in his irritating happy voice. "You've been a very busy, devious girl."

"What do you mean?" Darlene asked, irritated, while sitting on the bed and suddenly feeling as if everybody in the castle knew what she was thinking.

"He means you didn't relax and calm down as ordered," Dr. Moore said, annoyed, staring at the other doctor.

"And this isn't very good to the precious little thing in there," Sevarius said, trying to touch Darlene's swollen belly only to be repelled by her.

"I'll do the rest," Dr. Moore said, shoving his unwanted colleague away and turning to his patient.

"This is serious, Miss Anderson," he noted, addressing her by her husband's name, which was both strange and disturbing since it had been a long time since she had been addressed as such. "If the stress levels rise as constantly fast as this...this _pregnancy_ is going on, and if you continue this way, I can't guarantee anything. Not for its life, or for yours."

"What do you suggest?" she asked, patting her belly and watching Sevarius leave.

"A change of scenery maybe?" he suggested.

"A change making me forget that my family, my clan, is at risk and the world might end?" Darlene replied.

"I don't know what you can do," Dr. Moore said. "But you must do it."

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**20.09.98; 01:59, A floor not far away:**

"You missed a spot," Emilia, one of the three Gargesses watching them, said. "Over there."

"Thank you, elder," Ruth, scrubbing on her knees, replied with played friendliness, which fooled no one, while asking Lana in a whisper, "_So_, h_ow did it go?_"

"He served me a boar," her friend replied. "Complete with a head."

"And?"

"I don't eat anything that looks at me!"

Ruth shook her head. Sometimes she really couldn't understand her friend.

"Speaking of," one of the females watching them noted, making no intention on hiding that she had been listening. "Isn't your next date about to begin soon?"

"Yes," Lana replied through clenched teeth, throwing the brush back into the bucket.

"Then clean yourself, lassie," another female stated. "No male likes such smells."

"**SHUT UP!**" Lana shouted at them, dropping the bucket she had just took up. "It is nearly one month now, isn't this enough?"

For a moment there was silence, and then Emilia took the word.

"You made our mates go after you!" she snarled. "If my mate were leader, it would be a year."

"Lucky he isn't!" Lana snapped back, glaring angrily.

~ Hey, ~ she thought. ~ I just went from love life to politics! ~

"Besides," she said triumphantly. "I have to help her."

"No you don't," a voice spoke, and with this Smokey stepped in. "I spoke with the second already, and will take over from you."

Lana looked as startled as the other females, noticing that Ruth, who had not risen her head during the former exchange in hoping to stay out of the crossfire, had looked up, watching Smokey with a surprised smile.

"You're not making her punishment a reward!" the deep green one warned, knowing very well what was going on between those two.

"I'm doing this to serve my clan," Smokey replied in an adamant voice. "But you can watch and ensure that it isn't pleasant."

Looking down, Lana noticed that Ruth was smiling even more, though well hidden from the elders.

"Okay," she said, already walking away, as Smokey went on his knees, taking up her brush. "I'll see you later."

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**20.09.98; 02:15; New York Alley:**

Groaning and shuddering, the young Gargoyle woke up, being pulled out of his unconsciousness mostly by the smell, which invaded his fine nose. Barely able to resist the urge of vomiting, he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

Rubbing his forehead, Roland remembered he had lost his mask somewhere...and looking down he noticed his cloak was also missing, making his scraggy body and sickly yellow skin even more so.

~ When did I miss it? ~ he thought, breathing flatly. ~ How did I come here I...? ~

"Arghhhhh!" the young Gargoyle yelped, his voice forsaking him, and while his body threw a spasm he sank back into unconsciousness.

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**20.09.98; 02:17; Castle Wyvern:**

Lana was actually surprised when she found the room that usually looked ordinary, now decently decorated. There were four candles in each corner of the room, illuminating it enough for her enchanted senses to see everything clearly.

There were also two candles on the table where the red serviettes lay orderly by the plates. Hulls, sparkling like silver, covered the meal in the middle of the table, but Lana could smell the bread, and her stomach growled, as she had barely eaten anything of the boar from the last date.

"It is good you kept your hunger," the small red gargoyle beside her noted, a slight smile on his wide beak. "Let me show you to your chair."

Startled, Lana let herself be lead to the table, where the small red one actually offered her the chair.

~ This is much better, ~ Lana thought, seeing her wannabe boyfriend walking up to the hidden food.

"Some bread?" he offered, raising the cover of the first plate, revealing some delicious looking slices of bread. "Salad, and as a finale…some good meat."

Lana felt the saliva gathering in her mouth, as the cover had been lifted from the whole meal, especially since the meat didn't have anything to look back at her with.

"Tasty," Lana said, as the red Gargoyle handed her the plate with bread.

"Salad?" he asked. "The sauce is ex-quisite."

Lana knew he had mispronounced the word that he had learned especially for this occasion, but did not tell him.

"Yes, thank you."

"Water?"

"Sure!"

Lana had eaten the first bites of the meal when she noticed that her date had barely taken one, preferring instead to look at her with a clearly hungry look.

"It tastes very good," she said, breaking the awkward silence.

"I did it all by myself," the Gargoyle stated proudly.

"Oh?"

"Well, my cooking brother helped a bit," he pondered. "But I did most of it... I'm a quick learner."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was the quickest of my rookery to learn how to glide, even when my orange blonde sister claims to be the first one, but I..."

Lana nodded, absent-minded while taking another fork of her meal.

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**20.09.98; 03:16; Destine Mansion:**

~ Home is a dark place. ~

Darlene thought this when she, with Gem in her arms, and her two older children landed in front of the living room, two of their guardians already waiting for them after checking the ground, the rest remaining in the sky. Indeed, the living room was dark, and the shadows made its interior look strange.

Suddenly, a figure approached the door, and Darlene needed a moment to recognize Shade, bringing honour to her name by having crept up to this position unseen. Sighing, she opened the door, saying goodbye to her escorts, and walked into the room to the turn on the light switch.

"You're late," a cold voice nearly growled.

Darlene stopped, only then recognising her mother's form in the large armchair.

"I had this date business, remember?" Lana threw in, walking in beside Jarred. "Turned out an army of hungry hatchlings ate the third one's meal, so I will have the last one tomorrow."

"You would be hungry, too, if you trained as much as we!" Jarred defended himself.

"I would go mad if I trained that much," his big sister replied. "Isn't the training for the stupid trial enough?"

"It isn't stupid!"

Darlene let her mind put the ongoing dispute of her children into the background, as she ignored Gem's pleas to be put down so she could greet her grandmother, and kept watching her mother.

"Where is my sister?" she asked.

"She isn't your sister!" her mother replied in the hard, edgy tone she always used when Darlene tried to imply that Delilah was a relative.

"Then why are you training her?"

"Because she might turn out to be useful."

Darlene stiffened, and Gem began to whimper, realising something wasn't right and that she wasn't allowed down.

~ You want to use her as a weapon, ~ she thought, calming Gem instinctively.

As if wanting to respond to her thought, Demona rose from the armchair, taking up her large gun she had placed beside it.

"The hybrid is downstairs training in the cellar," the immortal said, walking by.

"And you are?" Darlene asked, seeing her mother walk to the door with Shade by her side.

"Out hunting."

Darlene shuddered, as her mother vanished into the night, only then becoming aware of her children watching her.

"Make yourself something to eat."

With this, Darlene handed Gem over to Lana and went to her mother's room, and down the secret stairs, already hearing the well-known sounds of training.

She found Delilah slashing a sand-filled sack, covered with metal plates, and much to Darlene's worry her sister looked more grim than she had ever seen her before, even more so while having Elisa's face, Darlene believed she could also see her mother staring out of it.

~ About time for a change, ~ Darlene swore to herself.

She was so drawn into it that the hybrid didn't even notice her arriving until Darlene coughed.

"Wanna take a break?" she asked.

"Demona said I shouldn't," Delilah responded.

~ Bet she wouldn't care if you trained until you broke down, ~ Darlene thought, but spoke out loud. "She is out...searching for something, and I wanted to talk to you."

The younger hybrid just continued looking at her.

"I talked with Deborah, and she would like to continue training you," Darlene half-lied.

Delilah seemed to look through her.

"They hate me," she stated, her voice showing so much torment that Darlene had to restrain herself from embracing her. "Demona trains me now."

~ To be her weapon, ~ Darlene thought.

"Mother can be...single-minded in her outlook and training sometimes," she said.

As the hybrid didn't respond, Darlene sighed.

"You know mother trained me, too?" she asked, gaining a slight nod. "And while she did it very well, she always told me... She was very fixed in her views on humans or how to deal with pain. It needed someone to speak to me, to show me that there is more than just her view in life."

"Who?" Delilah asked.

~ _Her name's D... We've been going out for a while and… ~ _Distant memories wavered in front of Darlene's inner eyes, but as hard as she tried she couldn't make out the details of it_. ~ And she really means a lot to me! I couldn't bear to be without her for so long! ~_

"Not important," Darlene responded, and thought while shaking her head, ~ _and can't be! _~ "I'm not too sure about it myself, but he showed me that she is not always right, and that there is more to this world that you can get it you don't always follow her way."

A pause.

"Is having revenge all you want?" she continued. "What then?"

"I don't want to be lonely," Delilah sniffed, holding back her tears, knowing how Demona had reacted on them. "I don't want to be hurt."

Darlene walked up to her and embraced her.

"I will **always** be there for you, sister," she whispered. "And they won't hurt you, even if it might be hard at the beginning, I promise you will feel better."

Slowly, she looked in the younger Gargoyle's face.

"Now I think we both need something to eat, what do you say?" Darlene asked.

"Mada!" a voice said down at her leg, and as she looked down both Gargesses found Gem looking up with an expecting look on her innocent face.

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**20.09.98; 03:41; Dark Alley:**

Roland was pulled back into a conscious state by the pain coming from his head, though he needed some seconds to realize it was a different sort of pain than which he had been half-used to. Noticing a soft feeling on his face, he opened his eyes to discover a rat having bitten his lip, only missing the softer parts of his eyes by simple luck.

"Arghh..." the young Gargoyle screamed, grabbing the snarling rat and throwing it so hard against the next wall that it fell down dead.

Breathing, the former bandit captain looked at the dead rat, absent-mindedly touching his bleeding lip. He could think more clearly now, and while remembering what happened he didn't feel the pain again, which had sent him back into unconsciousness... How long ago was that?

~ I miss my mask, ~ he thought.

No longer really smelling the aroma of the garbage bags he rested on, the hunger hit him like a hammer into the stomach. Roland had felt hunger before when he was young, cast out from his clan, but never this way, never with a body beaten like this.

The bleeding Gargoyle looked at the dead rat. Well, he had eaten worse, and since it had tried to eat him... He made to go pick it up.

Suddenly, the alley was filled with the sound of a motor, and instinctively Roland crept deeper into the trash, still being able to watch the surroundings.

A moped slowly moved through the alley.

"So much for a shortcut," the driver murmured, his face scowling under the red helmet.

Realizing that the human hadn't noticed him, Roland relaxed, but only after the scent of something more tastier than his surroundings drew his attention to the back of the moped, where a box was fixed by hard ribbons, bearing the sign of something he had gotten to know during his short period in this time.

~ Pizzas! ~ he thought, and the very idea made his stomach grumble so loudly that he feared the human would hear it.

Yet, obvious of the sound, the human slowly came nearer, careful not to touch the waste.

When the pizza boy was just at the side of the thrash pile, Roland made his move, jumping at the surprised man who had no time to be terrified, and throwing him against the wall. Making sure the human was too terrified to resist, Roland went to the moped that had slithered to the ground, nearly losing its box that had opened, spilling some of the pizzas on the ground.

~ By the dragon I'm... ~ Roland thought.

He didn't think any further, as a winged figure suddenly landed on him, crushing him to the ground and knocking him out. No one was more surprised than he.

0000000000

**20.09.98; 04:21; Destine Mansion, Living Room:**

For the first time in a long while, Darlene felt truly happy. Having Gem on her lap, Delilah sitting right of her, Lana left and Jarred sitting on the armchair next to the couch, the whole 'family' was eating popcorn and watching Beethoven.

"Bet he looks like a puppy compared to Shade," Jarred commented, taking another clawful of popcorn.

"Skip it and hand me the popcorn!" Lana said good-heartedly.

Darlene smiled, as her son did so without anything like a complaint. Then she looked at her right where Delilah was watching the movie with great interest.

~ Why can't it always be like this? ~ she asked herself, absent-mindedly touching her belly and holding Gem.

Suddenly, the door to the balcony broke open, and Demona walked in, carrying something...or rather some_one_ over her shoulder.

"Mother, what?" Darlene asked, her first thought was that it was Lucifia, or even someone of the clan she had had a fight with, and was now possibly dead.

Instead, Demona reached over her shoulder and threw Roland on the floor, Shade being quick by her side, sniffing at the unconscious Gargoyle who was held in some ropes, which seemed to likewise serve as chains, as they surely had held him on his captor's back

"Where did you find him?" Darlene asked, standing up in shock and handing Gem over to Lana.

"An alley," her mother replied out of breath, laying a claw on her laser cannon, seemingly not willing to reveal more.

"He smells like our trash can," Jarred noticed, bringing his presence back into his mother's mind.

"Jarred, Lana, you take Gem and go to your rooms," Darlene ordered. " Stay there until I call you."

"Mom, why..." Lana began.

"Now!" her mother replied in a voice, which allowed no defiance.

Darlene watched as her children sullenly went up, then turned to Delilah who had knelt down beside the unconscious Roland.

"Get me some proper chains from downstairs!" Demona ordered her hybrid clone.

Delilah watched Roland a moment longer, and Darlene was about to ask her if she was all right when...

"**NOW!**" Demona snarled in a not-so-nice repetition of Darlene's former orders to her children.

As the younger Gargess did as ordered, Darlene swallowed the comment she wanted to release on her mother, reminding herself to relax.

"I will call the clan," she told her mother instead.

"No," Demona said. "You will **not**!"

Darlene stared blankly on her mother who in return just stared on her younger brother.

"I will _question_ him first," she said. "He may know the location of Lucifia or some of her secrets."

Darlene shuddered at how her mother spoke, as the wounds on the yellow-skinned Gargoyle laid for sure testament of how her mother intended to ask the _questions_.

"I will not allow that," she replied.

Mother and daughter watched each other, and Darlene believed to feel a growing pain in her stomach.

~ By the dragon no, ~ she thought, when suddenly Shade rose and barked loudly.

Surprised and afraid, both Gargesses looked to the still open door where, much to Darlene's relief and Demona's displeasure, Goliath and Javin had just landed and walked in. Behind them were the shadows of two other Gargoyles guarding the entrance.

"How did you learn of it?" Demona asked, irritated.

Goliath just pointed on the TV where Travis Marshall had appeared, previously unnoticed by the Gargesses.

"...we received news of what seems to be a Gargoyle attack on a pizza delivery man. This man was apparently attacked by a yellow-skinned Gargoyle who intended to rob him of his deliveries. He was seemingly saved by the arrival of a second Gargoyle, a female with red hair, together with one of their dogs, who knocked the attacker out and took her with him. I must note that since it was a dark alley, and the deliveryman hit the wall, we can't verify his claims. If Xanatos does not seem to be able to afford pizza for his guests, we... "

Demona snarled, obviously unhappy with her portrayal as saviour of the night, and switched off the TV.

"You can have him after I've finished questioning him," she said.

"We need him now," Goliath replied. "His attack might cause an uproar. We will hand him over to Chavez."

"**What?**"

"He took part in her kidnapping, and is responsible for worse, maybe even _murder_," the leader of his clan said. It was clear that he had had such a discussion earlier this night already. "I will not risk a confrontation with the humans over _him_."

"I will **not** allow this!" Demona snarled, stepping between Goliath and the still unconscious Roland, her eyes flashing red. "Sacrificing one of our own to the humans just to..."

"He is **not** our own!" her ex-mate snapped back, just to add in a calmer voice. "The police will only charge him for the attack tonight, and take him into safe custody."

"I know the humans' _**safe custody**_."

"Mother," Darlene began in a begging voice.

"I knew your foolish caring for this city made you weak," Demona said disgusted. "But I never believed this!"

"I was a fool believing I could talk to you sensibly," Goliath replied, sounding almost sad. "We take him now."

Goliath and Javin hadn't even made a step when Demona had already pulled her laser cannon out, aiming it at her former mate's chest.

A moment of tensed silence lasted, as the two Gargoyles stared at each other, and Javin prepared himself to jump at his sister. It was Darlene who stopped it from escalating further, by pressing her mother's cannon away, placing herself between the opponents.

"No," she asked calmly, looking at Goliath and at him alone. "_Please_."

Goliath first looked at her, and then at his former mate.

"Keep him," he said angrily. "But you are not welcome at the castle anymore!"

Demona didn't respond, but glared angrily at him, Javin and at the rest of his group who had just walked in.

"I hope I am," Darlene said, her voice but a whisper. "I will be moving out with my children."

The room remained silent, and since she didn't turn around, Darlene couldn't see her mother's face.

Turning around, everyone in the room saw Delilah, seemingly already for a while, standing on the stairs, having dropped some chains with a look of proper terror on her face.

"Sister?" Darlene tried weakly, but the hybrid wouldn't listen, and instead turned around, rushing up to her room.

**To Be Continued... **


End file.
